Does that mean I have to pick RAM that conforms to those speeds (800/667/533), or can I also pick other types such as PC5400 675 MHz Ram?

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Asus is going with the official JEDEC specs. RAM speeds are like tire ratings in that they are the maximum speeds, and by definition, that's the maximum official speed they are guaranteed at. If you buy a tire rated for 150MPH, it's going to work fine at 40MPH. RAM is the same way. You can buy PC2-800 right now. Unless you run the RAM:FSB asynchronously, you won't be able to use the full speed, but it won't damage anything. Underclocking will not damage anything.

A little about my reasoning for these components... if I'm dead wrong, please warn me...

The goal is to have a system that can play current games fluently on 1280*1024 at high settings, that is easily upgradable in the future (while ripping out as little other components as possible), has to be relatively quiet and cool and has to look good.

Therefore, the Gigabyte Aurora case should have enough room to house future components, seems to have just the amount of cooling and noise reduction I'm looking for and of course, looks good. The OCZ 700W PSU should be able to support it when new components need extra resources (e.g. another card in SLI mode).

The processor is because it's currently the best 'bang for the buck'

The motherboard has integrated Wifi, a plus for me, is full-featured and supports RAM with speeds up to 800mhz

The 2GB of PC6000 Kingston DDR2 Ram isn't the fastest if the fastest RAM available, but should still be plenty fast.

The 7900GS video card is the best performance/value card I could find in nVidia's 7900-range.

A fast WD Raptor 36GB will be used as drive for the operating system. A Samsung 400GB, SATA II 16mb drive, reputed to be very good and silent, will be used for all the games and other 'data.

For the DVD Writer, I picked the Samsung SH-S182M LightScibe Black. This seemed like a great drive feature/performance-wise

As for speakers, I am doubting between the X-230 2.1 speakers or the X-530 5.1 speakers.

Since I do not want to bother (or risk) putting my computer together myself, I'm going to have a specialized shop assemble it for me
(price: €37,50 ). The shop has a good reputation on all accounts, most notably after-sales.

Guarantee
- Since the shop is a bit far from where I live, I picked an option for '2 years pick up&return policy', which sounds very useful sine the shop isn't really close. Price is: €80, at a hardware defect they pick it, repair it and return it at no extra cost.

Sound is subjective, IMO, so I would listen to any speakers you're considering.

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Well, I think my integrated audio and Philips 2.0 speakers already sound GOOD... but that crackle when I turn the volume loud, and I do miss some extra 'oomph', such as volume, bass boost, and "crisp-free" sound from my current speakers... plus they're boring beige and since I'm also trying to go for a "stylish" setup, they have to go.

If you like some 'oomph' then those z2300's, 560's, z680's and z5500's will be good for you, the crackling is called distortion, my z5500 speakers go up to full, then have an extra called boost, which can damage the speakers, but they dont distort untill boost 9, the sub has to be turned down though, any of the above systems i mentioned dont look boring too, i dont know how you can cope with beige stuff, so old fasioned and ugly looking lol.

I have noticed Sony have this AMAZING Mini Hi-Fi system with a huge subwoofer lol, its 200 quid, and it pounds, even in a large store, and at low volume, it has Bass Boost, everything you could want.

If you like some 'oomph' then those z2300's, 560's, z680's and z5500's will be good for you, the crackling is called distortion, my z5500 speakers go up to full, then have an extra called boost, which can damage the speakers, but they dont distort untill boost 9, the sub has to be turned down though, any of the above systems i mentioned dont look boring too, i dont know how you can cope with beige stuff, so old fasioned and ugly looking lol.

I have noticed Sony have this AMAZING Mini Hi-Fi system with a huge subwoofer lol, its 200 quid, and it pounds, even in a large store, and at low volume, it has Bass Boost, everything you could want.

lol, the logitech speakers i mentioned deliver really good crisp sound, maybe not as good as the seperate way, like bookshelfs, i dunno though, my set is preety damnd good and i love the sound quality, its certainly better than any home theatre in a box.

The system i have can be:
Crisp
Boomy (just reduce the sub level)
LOUD!!!!!
Nice
Pounding
Quiet.

Amazing for watching movies too.

Are you expecting these type of speakers to be crap quality?, if you dont want speakers with a sub, just go with seperates and get 2 nice bookshelf speakers for like £120. If you still want loud, and nice sound with plently of bass, look at the logitech speakers, check out the review of the z5500's i did.

Anyway, if you still want speakers, and are not sure what to go for, post in the sound section, going quite far off topic...

Gigaworks seem to be ok, but at the same price range there is the z5400, which is better, and there best set which is the S750 i think, which is very expensive and 7.1, 8" sub, but it seems to have some serious issues with the Amp.

For those who want to know *why*, it's mostly because there's still stuff coming out that even brings everything but the most modern computers to their knees... C&C anyone?

If I buy a new-new computer, I expect it to play the newest games that come out, perfectly, for at least two years. Current releases bringing a dual core 6400 with 8800GTS system and 2GB RAM to their knees (someone I know bought C&C for his PC) ... it's things like that which are putting me off!

It's always going to be like that, though. New things will come out that take advantage of the best out there. Like back when the 6800 GTX came out and it was considered a beast... Doom 3 gave it a run for its money, but that didn't make it any less of a powerful GPU.

Plus, the games that are out now that "bring high-end hardware to their knees" do so for a good reason -- they provide new expiriences and showcase major advancements taking advantage of that powerful hardware. Once you see for yourself what these games can bring to the table... It'll all be worth it.

For example... I recently bought Supreme Commander and I play it on max settings @ 1280x1024 with hardly any sort of slowdown whatsoever. But once get have 800+ units, (and that's only MY OWN army), on a 81x81km map with seven other AI players... You'll start to see some slowdown. But those are some massive, and I mean massive calculations going on. Totally impossible on lesser hardware. To me, that's totally worth it.

Then there's Crysis coming around the corner. From what I'm hearing, my 7900 GT might even be able to push it @ high.

If you're really worried about anything though... Wait until the R600. I know your a bit NVidia-oriented, but it'll be the most powerful GPU out at that point (by far). NVidia will release budget cards, (8600's), and a slightly better version of the 8800 during that time, so it'll just keep getting better. Just take that setup I listed, and instead of a 8800 GTX

Your 7900GS wont run crysis at high , have you seen the screenshots??? Even my rig will be pushing it trying to run it on high and I have an 8800GTS, my CPU will be letitng me down, and your CPU will to, even your CPU would be bottlenecking a card like an 8800series.
Whats a 6800GTX? do you mean GT? I dont think Doom3 gave that a run for its money, I had an X800XTPE, slightly more powerfull than a 6800Ultra, and I could max doom 3 out no problem, the graphics aint that good on Doom3 compared to modern games

Its unknown weather the R600 will be the best GPU by far, at this point we dont know and it may not be that much faster than the 8800GTX, allthough if it aint faster, AMD really need to get there act together.

7900 GT. Not GS. And yes I've seen screenshots, it looks quite good, but it can be done on current hardware.

I follow the game quite closely. Jack Mamais, (Lead Designer of Crysis), many months ago, (Before CES, even), was asked in a Q&A what hardware he's personally running the game on and on what settings. He has a an AMD Athlon 64 3500+ and a X1900XT/XTX, (never specified exactly which), and he said that he can run it on "most settings", which he later clarified as "high".

The Crytek team has also been saying that by the time they're done with the game... It'll be able to run on 3 year old machines, (6600+).

And yeah, I meant 6800 GT, lolz.

But if you been keeping up with the news surrounding the R600... You'd know that it definately poses the specs to beat out the 8800 GTX. 512-bit memory bus? GDDR4? It's only expected that the next DX10 card would be more powerful than what's currently out.

I wouldn't worry too much about your 8800 GTS, either. It's quite the powerful card and it'll really shine when running a DX10 game like Crysis. You get a lot more performance with DX10 because it renders things if far less many passes than DX9.